Pouring spout for pierceable containers



United States Patent lnventor Alwin Weber Uetlibergstrasse 178, Zurich, Switzerland Appl. No. 751,305 Filed Aug. 8, 1968 Patented Dec. 22, 1970 Priority Aug. 14, 1967 Sweden No. 11533167 POURING SPOUT FOR PIERCEABLE CONTAINERS 5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. (l 222/91 Int. Cl B67b 7/26 Field of Search 222/91 90, 542

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,209,438 12/1916 Houston 222/91 1,380,062 5/1921 Heffeman 222/91 2,007,449 7/1935 Kernodle et al. 222/90 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,245,782 7/1967 Germany 222/91 Primary Examiner-Robert B. Reeves Assistant Examiner-H. S. Lane Att0rney-Otto John Munz ABSTRACT: The spout at its bottom has a fluted, pointed piercing head. Above the head is a tubular, externally threaded shank. The shank is capped by a tubular housing. When the piercing head is pushed through a container wall, a hole is prepared through which the threads can be screwed, until the edges of the hole are wedged against the housing to seal the spout to the container.

PATENTED UEEZ 2 I976 INVENTOH Alwin Weber ATTOR EY POURING SPOUT FOR PIERCEABLE CONTAINERS FIELD OF THE INVENTION DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART In recent times, pouring spouts for bags and containers of liquids have become known which possess a threaded shank extending from a positioning surface, with a following piercing tip, the threading being a normal, fine threading. Such pouring spouts prove not to guarantee a firm and sealing seating on the bag or container. Liquid can leak out in undesired manner between the positioning surface of the spout and the outer wall of the bag, etc. Furthermore, a correctly shaped pierced hole conforming with the threaded shank is not obtained. Thus, it is not possible to obtain a satisfactory and secure introduction of the threading into the pierced bag or container wall. Furthermore, piercing is rendered difficult bythe use of a conical peripheral surface on the piercing tip. As a result of these drawbacks, such. known pouring spouts have disappeared from the market. 1

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the prior art, the present invention is intended to provide an improved combined pouring spout and piercing device which removes the mentioned disadvantages and also facilitates the piercing of container walls, achieving a correctly shaped pierced hole conforming with the thread core. To accomplish this, the hole is slit open radially repeatedly at its edge. The pierced material curls radially away on the side of the container wall remote from the piercing. A round pierced hole adapted to the corediameter is formed into which the threads can be introduced and screwed with absolute reliability until a packing ring seated on the threaded shank presses firmly against the outer surface of the bag.

The pouring spout of the invention, provided with an internal, fluid-conducting conduit, includes a threaded shank, a housing with a positioning surface, and a piercing head. The positioning surface and the piercing head are arranged at opposite ends of the threaded shank. The positioning surface is in abutment with a packing ring mounted on the threaded shank. The threads are deep with small pitch and small flank angle. They commence with a greatly downwardly swept thread introduction noseon one of several cutting edges of the piercing ribs. The threads terminate in the packing ring region at the positioning surface. The piercing ribs are arranged more or less radially and rise away from the piercing tip at an acute angle, i.e., an angle less than 90".

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the FIGS. thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 shows a pouring spout in elevation.

FIG. 2 shows a plan view thereof without closure plug.

FIG. 3 shows a cross section of the piercing tip along the section line H in FIG. 1. 1

FIG. 4 shows the pouring spout placed upon a container, partially in axial section.

FIG. 5 shows a part of FIG. 4 in enlarged fashion and partially in cross section.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The illustrated pouring spout housing 1 possesses an outer periphery 3 provided with raised portions 2 of handgrip form.

The fluid-conducting conduit 4 is closable with a closure plug 5, and at its pouring edge 6 is inclined obliquely outwards to render drip-free pouring possible. A positioning surface 7 delimits the lower end of the housing 1, from which surface an externally threaded, tubular shank 8 with V-threading 9 commences. Connected with the lower end of the threaded shank is alternately ribbed and fluted piercing head 20, which terminates in a piercing tip 10. The ribs 14 of piercing head 20 protrude substantially radially from the axis of the spout and have cutting edges 13 on their outer edges. As illustrated in FIG. I, the piercing ribs rise from the piercing tip 10 at an acute angle. Thus, the ribs attain a continuously greater protrusion from the axis of the spout with increasing distance from the piercing tip, until a maximum protrusion is attained. It is preferred to make the maximum protrusion equal to the thread root radius.

Packing ring 11 is mounted around the threads 9 and lies in abutment with the positioning surface 7. The inner diameter of ring 11 is less than the crest diameter of the threads, as shown in FIG. 5. This ring is made of a resilient material, such as rubber. The shank 8 and its threads 9 terminate at their lower end with a downwardly swept thread-introduction nose 12. The crest of this nose 12 recedes radially from its normal radial position at 21 into coincidence with the outer edge of its rib 14 at point 22. In its downward sweep into coincidence with the outer edge of the rib, the nose 12 never curves so rapidly that its surface becomes vertical. Thus, the angle A in FIG. 4, formed between the vertical and the extension of the crest line at point 22, is always greater than 0. The preferred angle shown is approximately 15. Angle A greater than 0 assures that the wall of the container will slide along the thread nose when the spout is given a screw movement after the container has been pierced with piercing head 20.

In operation, the piercing head is forced through the wall of a container. The ribs 14, by means of their cutting edges 13, form slots in the container, and the resulting sectors are later automatically curled over to form a hole exactly fitting the roots of the threads 9.

When the piercing head has been sunk to the point of maximum rib protrusion, the spout is given a rotary motion. Nose 12 catches a slot end and the sectors are turned over, while the sides of the resulting hole become mounted on the threads. Continued screw motion results in a sealing pinching of the container wall bounding the hold between the upper thread flanks and the rubber packing ring 11. While the thread pitch dictates that the threads are not parallel to the face of the positioning surface 7 in the embodiment shown, the thread pitch, the distance separating two adjacent thread crests, is chosen sufficiently small so that a seal is obtained completely around the hole. The thread depth from crest to root and the thread flank angle, which is shown in FIG. 5 as 23, must be chosen to assure a sufficient bite on the hole to prevent accidental pulling out or over screwing of the spout. Bite" is the amount of container wall pinched between the packing ring 11 and the upper thread flanks, as measured in the radial direction from the axis. If the particular bite chosen is too small, the unsupported, inner edge of the hold will collapse under pinching pressure. Thus, in preferred embodiments of this invention, a thread depth of at least 2 mm. and a flank angle between 15 and 25 are used. As is evident, the diameter of the threaded shank can be varied to obtain required pitch, thread depth and flank angle for a particular container wall thickness. The threads must always be sufficiently coarse to accept the wall thickness of the particular container. Particular cases of given wall thicknesses are readily designable by one familiar with .the skills of mechanical engineering, given the desired m'ediately below the positioning surface ,7 (FIG. 5). This perniits secure tightening without fear of excessive rotation.

The present invention is useful for containers containing s'olid fluids, such as granulated sugar, which is flowable, as .well as for liquid fluids.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the drawings are to scale, where the thread depth equals 2 millimeters.

"Lower" and upper, as used herein, are with reference to FIG. 1, the uppermost part being the closure plug 5, the lowest point being the piercing tip 10.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing disclosure relates to only preferred embodiments of the invention and that it is intended to cover all changes, modifications and combinations of the examples-of the-invention herein chosen for the purposes of the disclosure, which do not constitute departures fromthe spirit and scope of the invention set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A combined pouring spout and piercing device for penetrating a thin wall container and for drawing off a fluid from within said container, comprising an elongated, fluted and ribbed piercing head, the ribs having cutting edges thereon converging'to a sharp point at one end of the head and achieving continuously greater transverse protrusion progressively towards the other end of the head until a predetermined maximum protrusion is attained, the sharp point serving to puncture and penetrate the thin wall container when thrust therethrough, the ribs rising radially from the sharp point at an angle of less than 90, an externally threaded tubular shank aligned with and connected to the piercing head at its end of greatest rib protrusion, the root radius of the threads substantially equaling the predetermined maximum protrusion of the ribs, the threads including a downwardly swept nose means to engage the threads with the container wall, the nose terminating at one of said cutting edges, an elongated housing aligned with and connected to the threaded shank at the end of the shank opposite to the piercing head, the housing having a positioning surface extending transversely to and facing on the threaded shank, the threads are reduced in external diameter by breaking off of the thread crests directly below the positioning surface for about one threadtum, and a packing ring mounted in encirclement of the threads, in abutment on the positioning surface and having an inner diameter less than the crest diameter of the threads, the housing and the threaded shank having an internal fluid-conducting conduit therethrough, the conduit being inclined obliquely outwardly at the end of the housing opposite to the positioning surface to form a pouring edge, the underface of said packing ring and the uppermost thread flank portion immediately below the above-mentioned one thread turn engaging the container w'all therebetween to establish a tight fitting seal when the device is operatively assembled with said container wall.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein the threads have a flank angle of between 15 to 25 and a depth of at least 2 millimeters. y

3. A device according to claim 1, wherein the ribs divide the conduit in its lower part into several individual passages.

4. A device according .to claim 1, wherein the packing ring consists of resilient material yielding to a positioning pressure and the packing ring is threaded onto the threads.

5. A device according to claim 1, wherein the outer periphery of the housing possesses raised means to provide a hand grip and further includes a closure plug inserted in the conduit at said opposite end of the housing.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3 ,549 ,049 Dated December 22, 1970 Inventor(s) Alwin Weber It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

On the cover sheet [33], "Sweden" should read Switzerland Signed and sealed this 15th day of June 1971 (SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR. Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents e r n 1 1 l r n r A n a 7 A r F ORM PC4050 (10-69) 

